‘Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.’ William Butler Yeats
The great composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is often talked about as a genius who from the tender age of 3 demonstrated a natural sense of rhythm and musical memory to his father Leopold. What is less talked about is that the majority of Mozart’s world changing compositions which literally rocked the musical world came in his last 10 years of life between the ages of 25 and 35.
So what did he do between age 3 and 25? He got obsessed with his craft. Each day he practised, performed and composed. He studied broadly in his field and while touring Europe he sought world masters to mentor him and was even taught by Johann Christian Bach, son of the legendary Johann Sebastian Bach. Many of the finest aspects of Mozart’s great body of work included the tips, strategies and approaches he had gained through all this hard work.
For instance, the power of the use of counterpoint – playing melodies in conjunction with each other – is a signature from the Bach mentorship. After working to gather the fundamentals, Mozart’s genius and creativity kicked in and blended, stewed, brewed and seasoned the information he had collated to a whole new level. He was now in the privileged position to leave his indelible mark on history as the greatest composer of all time.
Nowadays we want everything now. Our minds have been groomed by fast technology to expect fast results with everything we do. If we don’t feel inspired often we don’t bother, we don’t make the effort, we don’t put in the work.
Now I’m all into choosing a vocation that you are passionate about but for the majority of people who actually find something that they like to work at, they still have days, weeks and even months where they hit a wall of lacklustre. The temptation for most people during this time is to not put in the work or in some cases not even turn up for work.
I’ve been privileged to individually coach over 800 clients, many of whom have built 7 and 8 figure businesses. These people have taught me so much over the years about what it takes to put out great work into the world. One true gem which the top performers all shared was their consistency.
You see, being an entrepreneur and working for yourself is not a right, it is a privilege. To work for yourself you need self-discipline. If you don’t have self-discipline you will always have to work for someone else who will act as an external source of discipline for you. When these top performers didn’t feel like coming to work they always turned up at 9am, 8am, 7am and continued with their craft until the inspiration came to take their output to a whole new level.
The example above of Mozart is of someone who WAS inspired from the outset. I encourage you, as you set out on the road of discovering what works for you, that you try many things. However, when you do find that, which you feel an inclination for, it is important to add some commitment to what you do.
Create a daily habit of work within your chosen field and stick to it despite the ebbs and flows of your motivation. Be patient with yourself. Allow yourself to enjoy the process of learning from your experience, your failures, your successes. Allow yourself the luxury of learning from the masters in your field if not in person then by online courses, free videos and books. If you simply read the top 5 books in your niche you will distinguish yourself from 99% of the world as most people do not read nearly enough to unlock their potential.
Most importantly create. As Steve Jobs said, ‘the doers are the thinkers’. He explained that he and Woz would never have found the creativity for the Apple Mac and the Mac II had they just stayed pondering in their heads. They tinkered with computer-boards and they tinkered with the market until they found their way forward and a winning business strategy which continued to evolve into the largest company in the world.
So, today, don’t wait until you get inspired to share your work with the world. Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor. Your genius, your inspiration, your creativity will come….but first create the vehicle for it to arrive in – strike the iron of your craft each day and warm up the world from there.
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